Week Ending Feb. 17, 2013. Albums: Mumford’s Grammy Surge

Chart Watch

Paul GreinFebruary 20, 2013

Mumford & Sons’Babel rebounds from #4 to #1 on The Billboard 200 in the wake of winning the Grammy for Album of the Year. The album spent its first three weeks at #1 in September and October. It dropped as low as #23 before beginning its resurgence, which is due both to the Grammys and to the slow-building success of the band’s great single, “I Will Wait.”

Sales for Babel jumped by 242% this week compared to last week. That’s the biggest gain, on a percentage basis, for an album following a Grammy victory as Album of the Year since Raising Sand by Robert Plant/Alison Krauss surged by 715% four years ago. (The Nielsen SoundScan era record was set the year before that when Herbie Hancock’sRiver: The Joni Letters surged by 967% in the week following its surprise win.)

Babel is the first album by a British group to log four or more weeks at #1 since the Beatles’ hit-studded compilation 1, which spent eight weeks on top in late 2000 and early 2001. It’s the first studio album by a British group to remain #1 this long since Spice Girls’Spice spent five weeks on top in 1997. That frothy female quintet has virtually nothing in common with the rootsy Mumford & Sons beyond nationality and success, but that’s the fun of the charts.

Babel has sold 1,922,000 copies in just 21 weeks. The group’s previous album, Sigh No More, took 93 weeks to sell that many copies. (For five of those weeks, it wasn’t even listed on the chart.) Sigh No More has been in the top 100 continuously since June 2010.

Digital accounts for more than half of Babel’s sales to date. The album tops the 1 million mark in digital sales this week. Sigh No More has sold 1,542,000 digital copies. Mumford & Sons is the only act with two albums that have sold 1 million or more digital copies. Adele, Eminem and Lady Gaga each have one album that has sold 1 million digital copies.

Babel sold 101K digital copies this week, which puts it at #1 on this week’s Top Digital Albums chart. This is the first time an album that has been out this long has sold 100K digital copies in a week since Adele’s 21 sold 176K digital copies in its 52nd week in February 2012 (following her Grammy sweep).

Mumford & Sons’ DVD Road To Red Rocks is #1 on Top Music Videos for the second week.

Grammy Nominees 2013 rebounds from #11 to #2. That’s the highest ranking to date for a Grammy Nominees album. The 2007 edition reached #3. In addition, six albums in this week’s top 10 are by artists who performed on the Grammys. (That’s even more impressive when you consider that there are only eight albums by artists in this week’s top 10; the other two are Various Artist compilations).

Mumford & Sons’ “I Will Wait” is featured on Grammy Nominees 2013, which means it’s on the top two albums in the country. But I can beat that. Taylor Swift’s “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together” is featured on three albums in this week’s top 10: her album Red, Grammy Nominees 2013 and Now 45.

Red rebounds from #12 to #4. The album is back at #1 on Top Country Albums for the 14th week. That’s the longest run at #1 on the country chart since Lady Antebellum’sNeed You Now logged 31 weeks on top in 2010-2011.

fun.’sSome Nights winds up a full year on the chart by rebounding from #14 to #7. The trio won two Grammys: Best New Artist and Song of the Year for “We Are Young.” The album has never slipped out of the top 50. Can it spend a second entire year on the chart? How about inside the top 50? Stay tuned.

“Thrift Shop” by Macklemore & Ryan Lewis featuring Wanz is #1 on Hot Digital Songs for the sixth straight week. More impressively, its sales jumped for the sixth week in a row (to 412K). It’s the first song in digital history to gain in sales in each of its first six weeks at #1 on Hot Digital Songs. Even so, it slips to #2 on the Hot 100, as you will see later today when we post Chart Watch: Songs.

Here’s the low-down on this week’s top 10 albums.

The Top Five: Mumford & Sons’ Babel rebounds from #4 to #1 in its 21st week (185K). This is its 15th week in the top 10…Grammy Nominees 2013 rebounds from #11 to #2 in its fourth week (88K). This is its second week in the top 10… Bruno Mars’ Unorthodox Jukebox rebounds from #8 to #3 in its 10th week (86K). It has been in the top 10 the entire time… Taylor Swift’sRed rebounds from #12 to #4 in its 17th week (72K). This is its 16th week in the top 10…Josh Groban’sAll That Echoes drops from #1 to #5 in its second week (72K).

The Second Five: The Lumineers’The Lumineers rebounds from #10 to #6 in its 46th week (67K). This is its eighth week in the top 10… fun.’s Some Nights rebounds from #14 to #7 in its 52nd week (66K). This is its seventh week in the top 10… Now 45 drops from #3 to #8 in its second week (63K)… Andrea Bocelli’sPassione drops from #5 to #9 in its third week (48K). It has been in the top 10 the entire time… Maroon 5’sOverexposed rebounds from #20 to #10 in its 34th week (48K). This is its 11th week in the top 10.

Four albums drop out of the top 10 this week. Tim McGraw’sTwo Lanes Of Freedom drops from #2 to #12… Justin Bieber’s BelieveAcoustic drops from #6 to #18…Red’s Release The Panic dives from #7 to #51…Coheed & Cambria’sThe Afterman: Descension plummets from #9 to #77. (I think this is what they mean by “Descension.”)

Bullet For My Valentine’sTemper Temper debuts at #13. It’s the band’s third top 15 album, though it’s down from the top five status of Scream Aim Fire (#4 in February 2008) and Fever (#3 in May 2010).

The Black Keys’ El Camino rebounds from #29 to #14 in the wake of the duo winning three Grammys, including Best Rock Album. The album debuted and peaked at #2 in December 2011. It has sold 1,192,000 copies.

The Pitch Perfect soundtrack drops from #13 to #16 in its 17th chart week. This is the 11th time it has been the week’s highest-charting soundtrack from a theatrically-released movie.

Adele’s21 winds up two full years on the chart by rebounding from #22 to #19 in its 104th week. The album has never ranked below #35. The album has sold 10,396,000 copies, which makes it the best-selling album of the last 10 years. (The last album, by release date, to sell more copies is Norah Jones’Come Away With Me, which has sold 10,910,000 copies since its release in February 2002.)

21 is the fifth best-selling album released since January 2000. It trails the Beatles’1 (12,159,000), *NSYNC’sNo Strings Attached (11,140,000), the aforementioned Come Away With Me (10,910,000) and Eminem’sThe Marshall Mathers LP (10,675,000).

Bob Marley & the Wailers’ 1984 compilation Legend zooms from #158 to #34 in its 255th chart week. The album is #1 on Top Catalog Albums for the 114th week since Nielsen SoundScan began tracking sales for Billboard in 1991. The upsurge is largely due to the reggae-themed segment on the Grammys which included Sting, Bruno Mars, Rihanna and Marley’s sons Damian and Ziggy.

Jeremy Camp’sReckless debuts at #31. It’s the Contemporary Christian star’s fourth album to reach the top 40.

The Bombshell: The New Musical From Smash soundtrack debuts at #43. The Music Of Smash reached #9 in May. Marilyn Monroe, the focal point of Smash, starred in the 1953 movie Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. The soundtrack (which included her classic rendition of “Diamonds Are A Girl’s Best Friend”) reached #5.

Of Monsters And Men’sMy Head Is An Animal drops from #50 to #57 this week. The album tops the 500K mark in digital sales, which is impressive considering its total sales are just 673K. (The album’s digital percentage is 75%.)

Foals’ Holy Fire debuts at #86. The album enters The Official U.K. Album chart at #2, just behind the Les Miserables soundtrack, which is #1 for the fourth time in the past five weeks.

Pearl Jam’s 1991 album Ten tops the 10 million mark in U.S. sales this week. It’s the 22nd album to sell 10 million or more copies since 1991. It’s the best-selling album associated with the grunge movement of the early 1990s. Nirvana’sNevermind is second, with sales of 9,044,000.

Celine Dion’s 1999 compilation All The Way…A Decade In Song tops the 8 million mark. It’s the best-selling greatest hits album by a female solo artist in the Nielsen SoundScan era. (Madonna’sThe Immaculate Collection is in second place. It has sold 5,845,000 copies since 1991. But that album was released in November 1990, so its tally is incomplete.) Two of Dion’s albums have sold even better. Falling Into You is up to 10,812,000. Let’s Talk About Love is up to 9,601,000.

Stone Temple Pilots’ 1992 album Core tops the 5 million mark.

A Good Day To Die Hard was #1 at the box-office over the weekend.

Coming Attractions: Buckcherry’sConfessions is expected to be next week’s top new entry, but with a modest sales tally of 12K to 15K. Also due: Atlas Genius’When It Was Now, Celtic Thunder’sMythology and Trinidad James’Don’t Be S.A.F.E.